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Jade: Blood trail
JADE: Blood Trail ''By Pavel Popov '' The only beast that was ferocious and savage enough to scare even Kelk was the Great Beat Mo’Ra. A huge being twelve feet tall and almost forty feet long from its maw filled with arm-long razor-sharp teeth to the serpentine spine-covered tale, Mo’Ra claimed more lives of Kelk from the Vadak clan than their latest skirmish against Humans. It is without doubt that Mo’Ra was hunted by each and every Clansmen and Hunter on the planet, since killing a beast of such magnitude was sure to win the lucky victor the best place by the side of the Warlord and, undoubtedly, the noble title of the Hunt Master. It was a twist of fate that Mo’Ra was found by a small band of Clansmen that were hunting smaller predators trying to earn the Hunter armor, so coveted by young and hot-blooded Kelk. Or, better to say, it was Mo’Ra that found the Kelk, drawn from the deeper jungle to the scent of blood from dead Kuras and Magwas killed by the Clansmen. The Kelk were not ready for this. In its first attack, as the Beast rushed into the opening at the speed surpassing that of an Amarant skimmer, two clansmen were squashed into bloody pulp. Kak rifle shells were useless against the beast’s hide covered by bony plates, and grenade blasts seemed to enrage it even more, with shrapnel bouncing harmlessly off from its scales. After a minute of carnage and gunshots, only one Clansman remained. His name was K’Raal and he was the youngest of the Kelk that encountered Mo’Ra on that unlucky day. For three days, the Kelk was running away and hiding from the Great Beast, always returning to attack it from behind trees and rocks, not giving the behemoth a single minute of rest or a chance to eat or drink. A mine that he placed on a Vorka corpse blasted away a part of Mo’Ra’s tongue as the tired Great Beast tried to swallow the dead canine. When his Kak rifle ran dry, K’Raal made a bow out of wood and Kura intestines, using splinters of bone for arrowheads. He constructed primitive traps out of vines and stakes. Stones and tree trunks fell on the beast, stunning it and leaving dents on its armor. Without any sleep and only with the scarcest food, K’Raal was close to total breakdown. His face bore deep scars left by Mo’Ra that could not stop bleeding in hot and humid jungle air. But it was the Beast that broke first. Bloodied and exhausted, its armor broken and twisted, an arrow sticking out of its eyehole oozing with pus, Mo’Ra kneeled before the clansman, admitting defeat and welcoming the sweet relief of death. K’Raal finished it with one precise thrust of his blade, and fell on top of the now-still mountain of flesh, unconscious from exhaustion. The next day he returned to the center of his settlement dragging Mo'Ra's head and threw it at the Warchief’s throne, together with talismans of the young clansmen that were not worth the honours of the Hunt. Another day passed, and K’Raal was sitting at the right hand of the Warchief, clad in heavy Guard armor. Two of Mo’Ra’s largest fangs hung from his neck. That day, a great feast was held in his name, and every young female was his for the taking. And so, the legend of one of the most feared Hunt Masters of the Vadak clan was born. In several years, his story was known to every young Kelk aspiring to be worth the honors of the Hunter caste. Forty years passed since that fateful encounter. Festooned with grizzly trophies with scars aplenty to match them, K’Raal was kneeling behind a tree patting one of the Vorkas that the squad took with them. He loved the simplicity and savage efficiency of the beast bred back on his homeworld. The Vorka purred like an overgrown Sol cat, arching its back covered in armor plates and sticking its tongue out to the back of its gaping maw. Infiltration onto the surface of Jade was executed with perfection. Stolen Amarant scout vessel that the clan engineers disassembled a year ago, not without the help of prisoners both Human and Amarant, contained an undamaged stealth field module that allowed K’Raal’s team and several other squads and beasts to land amidst the teeming jungle unseen and unnoticed by Human recon drones and scanner sweeps. Kelk also brought a hacked Amarant communication array that was untraceable for Human intelligence specialists. The squad leaders were tasked with locating the main Human drop site for the main invasion force, and did everything possible to evade patrols. Jade was very similar to Kelk homeworld, with its thick forests reaching to the skies and natural gas emissions scrambling scanners. Thanks to heat and plentiful wildlife, heat signatures were hard to read as well, and Kelk were able to remain undetected. And K’Raal knew that Humans, who never were good at the art of the Hunt, were quick to lose concentration in absence of contact with enemies or any direct threat. The Master also knew too well that the equipment placed by Humans all across the planet must have had a great strategic value to them, so he made sure that several sets of it were rigged with explosives. This time however, direct confrontation was unavoidable, since the humans were getting too close to the Kelk underground equipment and weapons stash. Lancers were strong enemies that earned the Master’s respect many years ago. Two of K’Raal’s scars came from their blades, and one of their skilled shots took a large chunk out of his left ear. This time however, the Humans did not have the luxury of cover or clear line of sight. The Human leading the sondiers was foolish enough to open the civilian frequency, and K’Raal had the coordinates of the drop site within several seconds. He tapped the panel on his helmet to listen to the talk between the man and what was apparently his mate. He learned the man’s name. The Kelk sent a coded message to the mothership hidden in a crater on the dark side of Ruby, the lesser of Jade’s four moons. Soon, the green planet will drown in flames. Master signaled his squad to prepare the ambush and sent away the Vorka still waiting patiently at his side, waiving its tail. The Humans were already within a hundred yards, and twenty yards into the minefield. K'Raal switched on the stabilizers on his Thoom cannot and nodded to himself as the weapon hummed confirming target lock. Master loved a good hunt, for a hunt always leaves the prey a chance to fight back. This however will not be a hunt, he was sure of that. This will be a massacre. End.